Gear News of the Week: Veo 3 Comes to Google Photos, and Garmin Adds Satellite Comms to a Watch

A few months ago, Google debuted a feature in Google Photos that lets you convert your existing photos into short videos using generative AI. These videos introduce slight synthetic movements to your stills, so a person may appear to slightly shift around in the frame, or a picture of your sleeping pup could gain a leg twitch. This week, the company upgraded this feature with its Veo 3 video generation model, which boosts the quality of the results.

To play around with it, head to any photo in Google Photos, tap the three-dot button at the top right, and tap Create. Choose the Photo to Video option, and then pick between Subtle Movement or I’m Feeling Lucky, which will be a little more creative. I tried it on a photo of my wife and it had her raise her arms to make a heart sign. (The fingers looked surprisingly realistic, though my wife exclaimed that her hands looked massive.) Google says you can even combine its Photo to Video tool with other Create tools, like Remix, which can change the style of the photo to a sketch or 3D animation.

The Veo 3-powered version of the feature is now available in the US.

Garmin Finally Launches Watches With Satellite Communication

As Taylor Swift and Tom Jones have both observed, “It’s been a long time coming.” Garmin, manufacturer of our favorite outdoor fitness trackers and hands down the best satellite messenger, finally added satellite and cellular communication to a smartwatch. The new Fenix 8 Pro has Garmin’s inReach technology inside, which means you can send messages over satellite or cellular networks to Garmin’s Response team. Not only can you trigger emergency alerts, but you can also send texts, make calls, and check the weather forecasts. It also has a MicroLED screen that can deliver up to 5,000 nits of brightness, making it not only visible in your tent at night but everyone else’s. (That’s a joke.)

There are two versions of the watch. The AMOLED screen comes in 47- and 51-mm sizes and gets up to 27 days of battery life per charge, while the MicroLED version comes only in a 51-mm size and gets up to 10 days of battery life in smartwatch mode. The Fenix 8 is already our favorite outdoor sports watch, and the ability to easily use satellite communication when you need it only makes it even more useful. It almost makes you overlook the sting of its enormous price—the MicroLED version goes for a cool $2,000, which seems less expensive when you consider that you previously may have had several devices to cover your bases before (a smartwatch for work, a fitness tracker for working out, and a satellite communicator for off-grid shenanigans). The AMOLED version is only $1,100. Both models will be available for purchase on September 8. —Adrienne So

Polar Made a Whoop Band

Fitness tracker company Polar announced the Polar Loop this week, its first screenless tracker that, well … there’s no way to get around it: The Polar Loop looks remarkably similar to the Whoop band, a black, bracelet-style screenless tracker. However, unlike Whoop (which requires a $199 yearly subscription to use), every feature is available on the Polar Loop from day one, with no added fees. Polar’s bracelet is designed for 24/7 wear. Its suite of fitness metrics is more limited—it doesn’t track blood pressure and can’t detect Afib—but it does have auto-activity tracking, sleep tracking, and a few training tools, like Training Load and Fitness Test. Everything is accessible through the Polar Flow app.

I’ve tested many Polar fitness trackers, and Polar’s heart rate monitor is our top pick. While I appreciate the accuracy and beauty of the hardware, I’ve found its app and metrics very difficult to use and parse. As the popularity of the Whoop band and the entire smart ring product category has shown, there is a real hunger for what Polar CEO Sander Werring calls “discreet, screenless experiences.” You can always layer a watch in front of it! —Adrienne So

JBL Is Down to Party

JBL debuted a trio of new Bluetooth speakers, including two large boombox-style party speakers and a cool portable go-anywhere model. The new Boombox 4 and PartyBox 700 may have hilariously on-the-nose names, but they will also offer appropriate amounts of power. The former kicks out 210 watts of power and two additional woofers for more bass than the previous model, with up to 30 hours of play time and a life-proof IP68 rating. The PartyBox 700 is the largest JBL party speaker that runs on battery, with a hilariously loud 800 watts of power and 15 hours of playback; this thing is meant to replace a PA at your next block party. At $550 and $1,099, respectively, these are meant for folks who need seriously loud models.

The most exciting speaker for most people will be the new JBL Grip, a $100 speaker that has a cool integrated rope hook and a nightlight for in-tent (or under-blanket) reading. Its battery can provide up to 14 hours of playback, and the speaker features JBL’s now-standard Auracast—also available on the above speakers—to allow you to pair multiple speakers together. —Parker Hall

ExpressVPN Mixes Things Up

ExpressVPN is overhauling its subsription offerings and phasing out the single, streamlined plan the company has offered for 16 years. In its place are three new plans priced at different tiers, each with different features. It’s a clear hit back at rivals like Surfshark, Nord, and Proton, each of which has built out robust security suites that go far beyond a VPN.

Even with the new options, ExpressVPN’s core service remains intact. The new Basic tier ($13 per month) replaces the subscription ExpressVPN previously offered, with the only difference being a bump from eight simultaneous connections to 10. The next tier is Advanced at $14 per month, and above that is Pro at $20 per month. You can score a discount on any plan by buying an entire year at once.

The new Advanced and Pro tiers include a lot of extras, so it’s worth looking over the list published by ExpressVPN. Some highlights include Keys, ExpressVPN’s password manager, identity theft monitoring on the Advanced plan, and a dedicated IP and data removal services on the Pro plan.

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